Meet Kristin
Welcome! Seriously, pull up a chair and join me. If you know me, you know my door is always open, the coffee ready to be brewed and most of the times, my husband of 25 years is cooking up something amazing in the kitchen. We always have food to share and love time lingering at the table and swapping stories. You may think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Hospitality is our jam. In fact, we love it so much, we opened a coffee shop/cafe about 19 years ago. It was called Jahva House and it became home away from home for many musicians, artists and kids who needed a place where they belonged. We loved it with our whole heart. But we were young and our family was growing quickly. It is a chapter in our story that lead to other adventures that took our (at the time) family of 6 halfway around the world to China and the Philippines. But, as the saying goes, "You can take the girl out of the city but not the city out of the girl." We found ourselves drawn right back to our raw, rough around the edges, city of Baltimore. Our tribe grew by one more, making it complete at 7. I'm the mama to artists...actors, musicians, ceramicists, photographers, designers. Not one of them missed out on the creative gene. And I'm married to a man who has the ability to take the most mundane foods and create masterpieces of taste. He can also gut a house and rebuild it. We kind of have a thing for restoring old homes. I love to create spaces, especially spaces that make others feel welcomed and at home. I even started a business with my best friend called LoveFeast Table where we shared our stories around the table, hosted events in two different cities and created an online boutique, LoveFeast Shop, full of beautiful items for the home.
The last 47 years, (not ashamed of my age) I believe, has prepared me for the next chapter I'm living. Four years ago, I stepped down from LoveFeast Table and am currently the director of a nonprofit called YWAM Baltimore. It's pretty awesome to have a canvas where my passions for family, the arts and Jesus get to intermingle together.
I write about my family, affectionately known around here as the Potler Tribe. I write about my kids, Kaya, Nahum, Zeb, Tavi and Corban and the out of the box parenting journey Devon and I have taken. God has asked us throughout the years to make decisions for our kids that defy logic, safety and a "normal" path to raising and educating kids. For years, I felt like I was holding my breath, praying that our decisions wouldn't scar them for life. Most of them are entering adulthood now and I'm letting out a sigh and thanking God that He knew what they needed better then we did. Our family has been called to live life a bit on the edges and fringes of society. We're jumpers, risk takers and faith walkers. We bare the scars and wounds from choosing to live this way, but we've also learned to love hard and believe the more love we give away, the more it is multiplied. There's always room for one more.
I have preached, told stories and taught all over the world. If you get me started on the place of arts in the Church, I'll have a hard time passing the mic to someone else. I believe the Church is starving for the artists to be who they were made to be, taking their place as culture shifters, prophets, warriors and creators of that which intrinsically makes us turn our heads up to see our Maker. I was raised by Jesus Hippies who had me touring in a VW van at the age of 5 with a bunch of long haired actors determined to show the love of Jesus to kids across the country through theater. My dad's a preacher and my mom an artist. I have been on a church journey my whole life and have seen the beauty and the brokenness on all kinds of levels and in all kinds of denominations, every step of the way. That story is a book in itself. I may write that one day.
I write about Jesus. I can't quit Him. He is everything to me. My middle name is 'Elan, named after the first poem my dad ever wrote. It is French and means, : vigorous spirit or enthusiasm. I tattooed it on my right arm. Kristin, follower of Christ, 'Elan, in passionate pursuit of her Creator. He knew, before I was a spark in my parents' heart, He named me and I know I was created to be His.
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